The present invention relates to an index print preparation and feeding apparatus and a photo-printing and developing apparatus, and more particularly to an apparatus for collating developed photographs with index prints in accordance with orders. That is, it relates to an index print preparation apparatus which is provided separately from an apparatus carrying out printing and developing treatment of photo prints; a photo-printing and developing apparatus with which the index print preparation apparatus is provided integrally as an index print preparation section; and a photo-printing and developing apparatus with the index print printing means built in.
The present invention also relates to an information card and an apparatus using the information card. More particularly, it relates to a photo-finishing apparatus that automatically calculates and indicates photo-processing prices in accordance with orders using the information card obtained by recording calculation information for photo-processing prices and/or photo-printing information in an index print or the like; a reprinting apparatus that can produce reprints with quality uniform to that of printed and developed prints since printing conditions at the time of reprinting are determined by the use of the information card; and a photo-printing apparatus which incorporates a device for preparing the information cards or a means for preparing the information cards.
Referring now to FIG. 23, the general process of developing and printing at a processing laboratory will be described.
In FIG. 23, a full line arrow, a dashed line arrow and a chain line arrow indicate treatment process of film, photo print and index print, respectively. The film F, photo print P, and index print IP after completion of the process are inserted into a DP bag 408. In FIG. 23, numeral 401 denotes a splicer, 402 a film developer, 403 a printer, 404 a paper developer, 405 a paper cutter, 406 an index printer, and 407 a film enveloper.
Now, the process will be explained in detail.
First of all, a film cartridge 400 with an untreated film inserted thereinto is inserted into the splicer 401. The splicer 401 links a multiplicity of films with tape and stores them in a roll film cassette 409 in the form of a roll. The roll film cassette 409 is set to the film developer 402, and the developed film is set to the printer 403.
In the printer 403, frame images of the film are printed on the roll-form photographic paper stored in the paper magazine 410 one by one, which is wrapped around a paper magazine 411 again. The paper magazine 411 is set to the paper developer 404 and the paper which has been developed is cut off by frames at the paper cutter 405 to produce the printed photograph P.
The film F finished with printing at the printer 403 is set to the index printer 406, cut into six frames each by the film enveloper 407, grouped by one film, and put into a negative bag sheet.
The index printer 406 is a device for preparing an index print IP on which frame images for one film are printed in one or more prints.
The developed film F prepared in this way, and printed photographs P and index prints IP which are collected in accordance with orders are put into the DP bag 408 after completion of collation by the operator. On the DP bag, the name and telephone number of the customer, type of negative film, and other information are entered when the order of photo processing is received, and the corresponding film F, printed photograph P, and index print IP must be put into the bag without mistake. Consequently, hitherto, a label carrying the number same as the order number carried on the DP bag 408 is affixed to the tip end of the film before development, and the label number of the treated film is visually checked and the film is put into the DP bag.
The index print is packed into the DP bag after visually checking it with the film or photo prints.
However, visual checking as described above needs an operator and there is a high possibility of making a mistake if there are orders with similar photographed images, which decreases work efficiency. There is also a problem of difficulty in automatization with this kind of system.
In addition, with the conventional method, the photo-processing prices for each order is calculated after the operator checks the number of prints or the length of film developed when he or she packs the prints or film into the DP bag, and the calculation results are affixed to the external bag for indication.
In order to prepare prints of the quality same as that of printed and developed prints at the time of reprinting, the printed and developed prints are attached at the time of reprinting, and the quality is unified by determining printing conditions while visually checking the tone, etc.
However, in the above-mentioned developing and printing process, an operator is required for checking the number of prints and inputting numerals at the time of calculating prices, which is troublesome and makes it difficult to automatize calculation and indication of the photo-processing prices for each order.
If attempt is made to prepare reprints with the quality same as that of the printed and developed prints, when the number of reprints are many, the number of printed and developed prints also increases, posing a problem of difficulty of checking them.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide an index print preparation and feeding apparatus as well as a photo-printing and developing apparatus, which can easily check index prints and films, and can meet automatization.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a method and a device to automatically calculate and indicate the prices, a method and a device for unifying the quality of the reprint and that of printed and developed prints, and an information card for recording the information therefor and a device for preparing the card